Happy One Month Birthday Wishes

Arrived by email from Christine today.  I responded.

Why thank you! And a happy, uneventful birthday it was. I bought him a cap with a brim since we've discovered that he really doesn't dig the sun on his face. Another bottle was had without any candles. Some fussing was done at some wee hour and life went on. We have new pics, but Dan hasn't uploaded them yet. I'll be sure to send around another batch when I've got one.

He also just passed his original due date of 4/29. Preemies start really growing in leaps and bounds once that happens and Alex seems no exception. At birth, he weighed 5 lbs, losing just 2 oz while in the hospital. He was released at 4 lbs 14 oz. It took him about four weeks to break 6 lbs, but it seems it will take only about 2 weeks for him to break 7 lbs. He now weighs about 6 lbs 10 oz, having gained 6 oz in a week's time. It's great news for his growth and as an indication of his nourishment, but it's also way helpful for me. The older he gets as now a "full term" baby, the better he is at nursing directly. Nursing directly usually takes about 40 minutes for him to get a meal. That's opposed to 10 minutes if fed the same milk from a bottle. Now he's starting to get a full meal from direct nursing in 20-30 mins. For the times I don't have a pumped store at 4 AM, this is much easier on me. Yay.

His vision has improved too, so now he gets more stimulation as he can see further and therefore, so many more things in his field of vision. Again, great news to see the improvement, but it also means that he's just that much more stimulated and excited by his environment. It takes much longer for him to calm down to a sleep. Oh well.
One more month of this round-the-clock business. Just one more month...

Oh, and one more birthday present for us. He can now smile spontaneously. We've tested it out, checking to see if the smile comes at appropriate times like in mimicry of our smiles or in the middle of a game. We're pretty sure now that the smiles are real. That was the bestest b-day present in the whole wide world.

April 30, 2007

Photos from Late April

Lost in the swing. Pic taken on 4/18 - aged 3 weeks. He's not that much bigger in it yet, but he has an easier time sitting up now. That sleeper fits him much better now also. I've been told that swings are a great way to get a baby to sleep. It hasn't worked yet. The only time he likes to be in the swing is if I'm in the same room at the time. It has brought us peace at our dinner time sometimes, as long as the swing was right next to the dining room table.

Second outing in the carriage (4/21, 3 weeks old). He managed to stay awake just long enough for this pic, I think. Who knew a carriage ride outside would be the ultimate sleep aid?

There goes Dan, paving the way for a world full of pain for us later. In the mornings, after his second daylight feeding (approx. 8-9 AM), Alex often wants to stay up and Mommy wants to eat breakfast. This is Dan's way of getting him to be calm again. I asked him the other morning how he likes his first doll. Pic taken 4/21, 3 weeks old.

Deceptively calm. Pic taken during the afternoon when Mommy would prefer he sleeps. Yeah, well. (4/29, 4 weeks old)

April 30, 2007

Yo, Guy! No Switching!

Alex went into a new routine for a couple of days.  Normally, I can count on longer sleep periods at night. Recently, he flipped that business to the day and shorter naps at night. I had to stop that business right away.
I did it by working on his eating, making certain I bottle fed (pumped) him at night and breast fed during the day. I then gave him his baths at night and made certain that I had no lights on or much noise going on during the nights.  So far, with the heavier feedings, baths and darkness, I've seen him sleep pretty tightly at night.  I also encouraged a play time during the days or evenings, depending on when I can get one.

As you can see, I tried a whole compound approach, so I'm not sure which of those individual things really did the trick.  I just know that he's back on track.

April 16, 2007

Eat, Little Guy, Eat!

Since Alex was a 35 week preemie I had to allow formula use for the first few days of his life until I got a good milk flow in.  At the time, his weight and eating were big issues for him. Then, earlier into my breastfeeding, his suckling ability wasn't that great.  He's 38 weeks old right now and I have finally seen improvement in his suckling, but still I was concerned.

I'm able to get 4-5 oz combined with each pumping session. It seemed incredible to me that my little slacker preemie could possibly do better. I was told by lactation consultants at my hospital that he will be able to fully eat at the breast as he got closer to his due date. I just took my breastfeeding class last Saturday and the lactation consultant there reiterated that full term babies are a lot more efficient in suckling milk than a pump is. 
When Alex finally took a whole meal at the breast, he slept longer than he ever did with pumped milk before.  He showed all signs of satiety after a 40 min session and didn't get interrupted sleep from hunger afterwards.

A sigh of relief.

April 16, 2007

Still in My "Pregnancy" - But Not

When I was pregnant, experienced moms told me that I would miss being that way when I no longer was.  It was tough to believe them. My pregnancy was an utterly miserable experience from Month One onwards.  I was lucky to have had no medical issues, save my little one arriving a month early.  But the symptoms - dear LAWD!  I was sick constantly.  Sleep? What was that?  I've had better sleep now that he's here - and waking every three hours - than I had throughout nearly all of my pregnancy.

The only good thing about it was feeling Alex move around.  Those brief moments throughout the day and night would make the physical misery worth it.

Yet now, here I am, terribly sad that my little one arrived so early and I didn't get to experience the anticipation of delivery in my ninth month.  There was no real waiting for me. There wasn't any preparation or excitement period. There was the unexpected night of "Hey...what's that water feeling going on down there?" and the arrival at the hospital in which I was utterly clueless.  I even asked the nurse admitting me "What can be done to stop it?"

Her answer: "You give birth. That stops it."

And so I did, about 15 hours later. I was bewildered, scared, not excited at all because I was so worried about his health given the circumstances.  He was OK and needed no breathing assistance ever. But, of course, he had to get out for me to know that. Sigh. I can't really explain this sadness I have well. I guess I'll get over it, but in the meantime, I'm still in my "pregnancy" with one and a half weeks to go.  It just bums me out.
 

April 16, 2007

New Parent Jitters

And the new and exciting theories of infant health care and development just keep on coming to confuse and confound even more than the last one. They scare you to death with this stuff.

For example, when Alex came home, we had no sheets ready yet for his bassinet. You have to wash all new stuff of baby-ness straight from the package. So say “they”: The fabric has been handled by a lot of people and machines prior to packaging and then it’s been stored with silica gel to prevent humidity from damaging it during shipping and storage.

Then there's the sleep sac he’s been wearing. It's recommended because now you’re advised to not even use a blanket on a newborn. The loose blanket poses a suffocation risk. These sleep sacs are blankets that – as you can see in the photos – are worn like clothing. It can’t come loose to wrap around his face. However, it's suggested that you use blankets a LOT while you're awake and watching the baby. The conflicting theory is that newborns, especially preemies, require a tightly confined environment to mimic the small amount of space they had in the womb. Preemies in particular, it's theorized, are still developing as they would have in the womb. The whole process is dependent on them still feeling like they're in 98 degree water all the time, in a tiny, dark space and rocked a lot like they were when the mother would walk around. Go figure.

How DID we survive when our parents didn’t know all this stuff in the 60s? One wonders. Does anyone know of any family on your block or even immediate neighborhood who lost a baby our age due to unwashed baby stuff or loose blankets? Do any of us know any preemie born people who wound up emotionally messed up or intellectually slow by not being swaddled all the time until they got to their due date? Of course, after they tell you this stuff, you can't make the leap of faith to NOT heed it.

The Sleep Sac

His second morning home. That’s his “What’s this stuff?” and/or "Who are you people?" stare.

The not-so-good ol’ days when it was hard to feed him a whole bottle. Now he’s in a growth spurt and wants to eat every two hours and sometimes every hour. (This is a good thing. I keep telling myself that at 2 AM, 3 AM, 4 AM…)

We had a cold front move in the first week of April. (I’m sure it hit DC and PA too). The socks that don’t fit became necessary. He kept losing them in the sleep sac. I gave up on these green ones eventually. Next month, he can be a more stylishly coordinated baby. You know, when the nice stuff he has fits him and all.

He’s been showing an early ability to grab things. He was able to hold the pacifier to his own mouth when only days old. (Though I think he’s forgotten this skill now.) He was able to do this with the bottle at 4 days. Today, he even held up the bottle (15 days old.)

April 12, 2007

He's Home! The First Week

The first week of his being home proved to be challenging in getting him to 60 ml every four hours and much more successful of at least 45 ml every three hours (winds up being the same 13 oz in a 24 hour period.) These two weeks have, indeed, been sleep depriving. That's just the way it goes for a newborn. The thing is that the sleep I do get is FAR better sleep than I got throughout seven and a half months of my pregnancy.
So, yeah, he keeps me up at night and sometimes for hours. The thing is that I don't feel as crappy as I did when I was pregnant and was up for at least two hours in the middle of each night anyway.

And, of course, this isn't someone else's baby I'm losing sleep for. It's a world of difference when it's your baby. Even poopy diapers are fascinating to me and Dan now. (Well, that and the fact that breastfed babies don't produce solid waste that smells badly.) I have to keep reminding Dan that such things are fascinating to only six people on the entire planet: me, him and our parents. Nonetheless, I suggested that he stop discussing these things in detail to everyone he speaks to, like his doctor's receptionist or the college students who work at our supermarket.

April 6, 2007

Coming Home

These are the most recent photos we uploaded from Alex's birth and eventual coming home from the hospital on April 2.  He was released after the neonatologists were satisfied that he could go four hours without eating and that he would eat 45-60 ml at every one of the six feedings from the previous 24 hour period.

This is our favorite pic so far. Still in the hospital, about 3 days old here. Not only is it an adorable pic, but he’s laying on his side. He wasn’t placed like that. He does it. That’s way advanced for a 3 day old. I’ve since learned that many newborns in recent years are coming out of the womb with motor skills that were previously considered advanced. Turning his body, for example, shouldn’t be a skill until about 3-4 months. Better diets and health in the mothers maybe?

“Preemie” defined. That’s Dan’s finger he’s holding.

Our little shrunken guy. He’s only gained 9 oz since this photo was taken, but he already looks so much fatter. He’s slightly jaundiced here as most 8th month preemies are. I’ve also been told that breastfed babies stay jaundiced longer, indicating that the blood bilirubin level that causes jaundice may not be such a bad thing after all.

One of the hospital’s Going Home presents. The T reads, “I got my first hug at Greenwich Hospital – NICU”

Dwarfed by the car seat on the way home from the hospital.

Dan singing to Alex the first day he was home. (April 2)

April 2, 2007

Getting Stronger in NICU

These pics are from our camera. Dan was able to go get it on Thursday while I was still in the hospital. The photo download picks up from my shower.

I included this pic of my stomach because it surprised me to see it like this again. This breastfeeding thing has been the best weight loss program that has to be known to mankind. Too bad you have to have been pregnant recently for it to work. This was taken on Saturday, March 24, when I weighed about 172 lbs. Since my maternity clothing has been loose for the past few days and my stomach seemed oddly "small" when I looked at my reflection today, I weighed myself this morning out of curiosity. I've lost a little over 22 lbs in two weeks.

Greenwich Hospital gives a special celebration dinner for new parents on the night before the mother is to be released from the hospital. (In my case, the dinner was Thursday March 29). The choices for dinner are filet mignon, roast salmon, roasted cornish game hens or lobster tail. Since I'd been deprived of shellfish for eight months, you know I went right for the lobster tail along with shimp cocktail for an appetizer. The dinner also comes with champagne which was OK for me to have in small amounts despite breastfeeding. This room was the postpartum room to which I was moved at 8 PM on Wednesday night. (March 28). That would be the room in which none of you could find me. Without a phone card, I was unable to make long distance phone calls and my cellular service did not work well in the hospital.

Dan with champagne at Celebration dinner. (March 29)

Dan and Alex on Thursday night (3/29). He was finally allowed in the NICU that evening.

Alex getting his first feeding from Daddy - Thursday night.

Alex close up. Fed by Daddy. Thursday night.

Alex, doing what he'd do after 15-20 ml of milk for the first three days of his life - sleeping. The tube was reinserted to feed him the remaining 20 ml.

Alex, after waking a little.

Alex's birth card from the nursery (NICU in his case). I had asked them to insert his full name so that my father-in-law could see the middle name. Gerardo hadn't known that we gave him the middle name "Gerard" until Orquidea pointed it out on the card to him. Dan doesn't have a middle name, so I think it might not have occurred to my in-laws to ask us what Alex's middle name would be.

A big moment for us on Friday afternoon. Alex got "promoted" out of an incubator and into an open bassinet.

My father-in-law, Gerardo, meets Alex on Friday afternoon. (March 30)

My mother-in-law, Orquidea holds Alex on Saturday afternoon. (March 31) You can see the tube in his nose which indicates he still wasn't taking full feedings from the bottle.

Me leaving the hospital on Friday afternoon with the leopard Donna and Ellen gave me Wednesday night. It was depressing to have to leave the hospital without a baby. I insisted on holding the leopard instead. The saint pushing me is Nurse Mary - witness to The Screaming Hours of 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM on Wednesday while waiting for the anesthesiologist and while he worked for about 15 minutes to get the epidural in.

April 1, 2007